Charlene Riopelle is a mother and member of Community Living Renfrew County South.  She can also be described as a tireless advocate for developmentally disabled adult children who make up the client roster at CLRCS.

The fourteen-week labour dispute between CLRCS and OPSEU Local 472 affected Riopelle mightily as her son Travis is a client of the agency and thus one of the primary unfortunates in this whole business.  Travis’ routines have been knocked ass-over-tea-kettle, and he’s not necessarily thriving under the new and less satisfactory conditions.  And Travis is just one of many who are suffering equally.  The individual stories may differ from individual to individual, but the common occurrences of confusion, depression, acting-out, loneliness, and guilt seem to pop up among most, if not all, of the clients.

Last week I featured a letter written by local business owner Laura Wheeler. The engagement with that letter, according to my site analytics and metrics, was nothing short of impressive, with people from all over the place reading it and then sharing it.

I’ve also seen feedback from Facebook that indicates the letter not only reached a large audience, but at the same time generated many positive comments as feedback. The fact that the letter was posted to the OPSEU Local 472 Facebook page also gave it some traction online, and again, nothing but positive commentary.

When a labour dispute stretches into its fourteenth week, staying on the sidelines may be the easiest political choice. Renfrew Reeve Peter Emon has chosen a different path.

There is an old political instinct when it comes to labour disputes: stay out of it.

Pick a side and you risk alienating the other. Say too much and you may be accused of interfering. Say too little and people wonder why their elected representatives aren’t doing anything at all.

Renfrew Reeve Peter Emon has apparently decided that there is another option.

Renfrew Reeve Peter Emon has put forward a motion to Town Council recommending a two-prong approach towards educating the province around the hardships caused and endured as part of the current labour dispute between Community Living Renfrew County South and OPSEU Local 472.  This “education” —  my word — would involve giving the government a point of view perhaps unique from other sources of information.  What the strategy would not entail is any kind of criticism directed at either side.

Emon, a candidate for the mayor’s office in this October’s municipal election, quoted from the Town’s Road to 2035 initiative, a series of pledges around good government in the Town of Renfrew.

I guess after thirteen weeks of a labour dispute happening right in front of us, we’re legitimately allowed to ask “What’s going on here?”

What makes that an even more important question is the fact that agreements have been reached between six other jurisdictions in the province that were involved in similar work stoppages involving locals of OPSEU, or Ontario Public Service Employees Union.  But the OPSEU main website still lists Local 472 as being on strike, whereas other locals have reached agreements with their employer agencies.

So what might be the holdup here?

Laura Wheeler runs a small business here in Renfrew, I don’t know which one.

Laura is one of a group of generous people with local businesses that open their doors to developmentally compromised adults in terms of “hiring” them to “work” at their place of business.  The work is mostly of the voluntary variety, but in the case of Laura’s operation, there was one day a week that was a “paid” day where the client actually earned legitimate wages for legitimate work.

Opportunities such as these are absolutely huge to both the client and the client’s family.  It gives the client some experience out of the home, allows them to learn routines and structures, gives them a feeling of belonging and gratification, and sometimes even presents a chance to make some cold hard cash of their own.  And just as important, it gets the client out of the house and into the community.  That’s something that benefits both the client and the family.

Sadly, Laura has had to step back from offering this opportunity.

Any work stoppage is going to be tough for the people directly involved, as well as those indirectly involved through family or professional relationships.  A strike lasting beyond thirteen weeks is only going to exacerbate the situation for participants.

I think that has to apply to the people on both sides of this or any other labour dispute.

It’s far easier to see things from the point of view of the workers because they’re obviously on strike, and that means visibility, signs and flags, songs and chants, here there, and seemingly everywhere.  They’re tough to miss.

It’s also somewhat easier to see things from the point of view of impacted clients and their families.  They’re not impacted financially in the same sense that strikers might be, although some may be footing additional expenses to keep their adult children supported during the strike period.  They also have a burden of anxiety and fear, adding to what has become an already difficult struggle for them over the years, and one that’s not going to get any easier.  You run into some of these people at events and they talk to you, and share with you.  Not the same visibility as the picketers, but still, they have their stories to tell.

I can’t say for sure, but I recently came across information that may turn out to have a silver lining attached to it, a silver lining that both sides of an ongoing local labour dispute may find encouraging.

In less than two weeks, school will be back in session and teachers and educational workers will once again be on the front lines of our education system.  But why would this have any affect on a labour dispute one way or another?

Because those teachers and other educational workers are returning to work without a contract.

And when you watch this beginning to develop, you see all the same signs and hear all the same words, as both sides position themselves for what may well become the inevitable:  a full-on strike featuring 160,000 teachers and an additional 55,000 support staff.

There’s a pronounced human story as to what happens when you and you’re employer are locked in a 12-week labour dispute that just doesn’t seem to have any end in sight.

Being on strike and walking a picket line are not generally things that most people want to do, and in truth, not something a lot of people have ever done or experienced in their lifetimes.

I personally have been on strike and walked picket lines twice, but never for any length of time even close to the multiple weeks spent on the line by members of OPSEU Local 472.  My greatest stretch was for perhaps three weeks, maybe two.  But even though it amounted to a couple of weeks each time, there were still a lot of things learned from the experience.  People things primarily, and I guess that makes sense when you have over 80 people involved in a very challenging strike action.

You see a lot of people.  People at their best but also people at their worst.  It’s unavoidable.  And if I could begin to see the storylines develop after only two weeks, I can imagine what things might be like after twelve.